Apparatus for walking on the water



A. N. SHELDON. APPARATUS FOR WALKING ON THE WATER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 18, 1920.

1,384,354, Patented July 12, 1921.

7 13 L- L \N 6 J5 IN VEN TOR. Madam BY f - ATTORN Y Cir , invention:

tion.

UNITED STAT ALBERT N. SHELDON, OF VENTURA, CALIFORNIA.

- A PPARATUS FOR WALKING (lN THE WATER.

Application filed October 18, 1920; Serial No. 417,732

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT N. Snnnnoiv,

a citizen of the United States, residing at a Ventura, 1n the county of Ventura, btate of California, have invented a new and userul Apparatus for Walking on the Water, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a system of floats adapted to be shifted by a person standing An object of theinvention is to produce an apparatus of this character which, can be safely used by one not especially skilled in itsuse.

, ,Another object is to construct the apparatus so that a minimum amount of friction will be produced in the operation thereof.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the Figure '1 is a plan view of an apparatus embodying the 1nvent1on. v

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of Big. 1,

on line indicated by w m Fig. 3 is a sectional levation on line indicated by m .w Fig. '1.

Fig. 4 is afragmental side elevation of one of the floats, one of the slip-preventing paddles being shown in floatholding posi- There is provided a suitable frame indicated in general by the character. 1. constructed, in thisinstance of longitudinally extending members Zand cross members 3. Extending longitudinally of the. frame 1 and in this instance formed integral with the longitudinal. members 2 are: guides which. may be in the form of grooved rails 4 rest-- ing upon rollers 5 mounted 1n palrs on floats 6. In this instance-a pair of the rollers 5'is mounted near the forward end of each of the floats and another pair near the rear end of each float. I

The floats 6 are parallel with one another and are decked over, the decks being indi cated at 7. The rollers 5 are rotatively mountedon the decks.

anti-friction sliding mount between the frame 1 and the floats 6, and it is obvious that the rails and rollers may be reversed in tom of the floats.

thedrawings the floats "6 are dividedinto a tions.

The object of having the rails 4 and rollers 5 is to produce an provided instead of the rails and rollers. lhe decks 7 are provided with openings 8 through which the pedestrian passeshis feet,

it being intended that he stand on the bot- In the instance shown in number of water tight compartments 9 so as to insure buoyancy, any water. that may accidentaliy enter the openings S-not being to penetrate into the compartments 9.

The floats .Gfare connected with one an other fore and aft by cables 10 engaging pulleysll mounted on the end cross members 3 of theframe. "The ends of the cables 10 are fastened by eye bolts 12 tothe decks 7 and are in alinement longitudinally of the apparatus with the respective pulleys 11 and are substantially midway betweenthe sides of the floatsso that any pull on the cables willcome on the center line of floatsand thus not tend to deflect them to one side or the other. Thus if the frame llwereheld stationary moving forwardly of either of able .the floats .wouldfmove the other float rear- Specification of Letters latent. Pate td J 12, 1921- i the frame and the rails on the floats. Also any other form of anti-friction mount heldsubstantially stationary when the other is moved forwardly in the water, I provide a number of paddles 13 which are pivoted at 14 to the sides of thefloats. The paddles 13 are provided with arms 15 which, when the paddles are in upright position, engage stops 16 on the floats, said; stops being rearwardly of the arms 15 so that the paddles 13 can only be moved rearwardly and not forwardly with respect to their upright posi- VVhen either of the floats is moved forwardly in the water the resistance of the water is applied against the front faces of the paddles 13 so as to move saidpa'ddles rcarwardly and upwardly into horizontal positions, thus minimizing the resistance. It is clear that backwardmovementof either float, even a slight distance, would tend to cause the paddles 13 of said float to assume the upright position in which the water would act against enema resist rearward movementof the float. To bring thepaddleto the upright position immediatelythat forward motion of the float ceases, I preferably employ retractive springs 17 between the free ends of the arm 15 and sultable stationary supports, in this instance said supports being afforded by the stops 16.

r In practice, when the pedestrian-stands with one foot resting in one of the floats and the other foot resting in the other float, to

progress he will shift his weight largely on one foot and shove his other foot forwardly so as to advance the float attached to the latter foot, :The paddles'of the forwardly moving floatfwill assume their horizontal positions to permitsaid float to move freely, and the paddles of the float supporting the weight of the pedestrian will.hold said second float substantially in stationary position ,in the water. The moving float, as has been pointed out above, pushes the frame 1 forwardly, and the, pedestrian then' takes another stride by shiftinghis weight to the float that has just been moved and moving the float which was previously stationary.

. suchstirrups are not absolutely necessary to the operation of the apparatus. A very important feature of the inven- Stirrups,'indicated at 18,'are preferably provided beneath the openings 8 to engage the feet or shoes of the pedestrian, though tionhas not yet beendescribed, since the now that the operation has been described,.

mere operation thereof. as set forth above 1s not dependent upon its nclusion; and

the. utility of said feature will be more clearly seen. In shifting the weight upon either ofthe floats it is obvious that the float receiving the weight will sin]: deeper into the water and the other float,relieved of its load, will rise, thus causing a certain degree of lateral tipping of the frame, and

the frame will tend to be tilted away from c. the float relieved of the greater portion of the weight of the operator, and so produce a tendency ,to separation of the frame and said float. To prevent this I have'pro 'ided a certain construction which will prevent upward movement of theframe; relative to the floats. For this purpose the standards 19 supporting the shafts 20 on which. the

rollers 5Iare mounted also support shafts 20 on which are, mounted rollers 21 which are adapted to engage the upper Ifaces of the members 2 when the rails 1 rise slightly from the rollers '5.

1 Suitable stops indicated at 22may be provided at suitable intervals on the rails 4;, to limit the endwise movement of the floats relative to the frame, thus limiting, in effect, the length of the stride of the pedestrian so that the floats cannot under any circumstances separate by a distance greater than the pedestrian can step, the stops in this particular instance being positioned adjacent the ends of the rails 4, tliough it is.

obvious that they may be locatedat other points along the rails and that, if so desired,

they may be made adjustable by utilizing any suitable well known form of the clamp to releasably fasten them in place.

Though the paddles 13 may be placed normal to the longitudinal axis of the floats, I prefer to. set them at an anglese that those in front of the transverse median line of the floats extend aslant inwardly and forwardly toward the longitudinal midaxis ofthe frame and those rearwardof said median line extend aslant outwardly and forwardly away from' the mid-axis of "the frame. By this construction, assuming, for example, that the left float is not being propelled, the paddles thereof will tend to hold the nose of the left float from turning toward the right when the float on the right is being propelled, thus to counteract the tendency of the right float to turn outwardly as it otherwise would because of the resistance to backward movement being imposed on one side ofthe longitudinal axis of the frame while thevforward pressure to advance the float is imposedupon the opposide of the'longitudina-l axis of the frame. In other words the angular arrangement of the paddles prevents or minimizes waddling .or zig-zag motion over the water.

' I claim: 1

'1.' In an apparatus 'of the character described, a 7 frame, floats beneatli the frame, means shiftably supporting the frame on the floats, pulleys on the ends of the frame, and cables fastened attheir opposite ends to the respective floats along the center line thereof and engaging the pulleysi" 2. In an apparatus of the character described,a frame, floats beneath the frame, 1

3 means comprising rails and rollersto shiftably support the frame'on the floats, pulleys on the frame, and cables secured atitheir opposite endsto the respective floats and engaging the pulleys.

supported beneath the floats, and means to limit the forward movement'of the paddles, at least one of the paddles forwardly of the transverse median" 'line of each float being" aslant forwardly and inwardly toward the longitudinal axis of the apparatus and at least one of the paddles rearward of said median line "of each float being aslant forwardly and outwardly away from the longitudinal axis of the apparatus.

5. In an apparatus of the character described, a frame, floats shiftably supporting the frame, a cable fastened at its opposite ends to the forward portions of the respec- 5 tive floats, a second. cable fastened at its .alinement with the longitudinal axes of the floats, and a pair of cables, eaeh cable being fastened at its opposite ends to the respective floats along the longitudinal median line thereof and engaging one of the pulleys in alinement with each float.

Signed at Los Angeles, California this 20 7th day of October 1920.

ALBERT N. SHELDON.

Witnesses GEORGE H. HILEs, L. BELLE WEAVER. 

